Worthwhile
by ghostleaf
Summary: InuYasha reflects on Kagome and Kikyo's differences as the group plays in the sun, and finally makes something akin to a decision.


The stories just keep on rolling... funny, thousands of beginnings, but not an end in sight. This will prove to be difficult in the future... --;;;  
  
Anywahoo. Listening to the radio, and quite inspired at the moment, so bear with me while I vent. .  
  
I usually do fics that end with Kagome/Sesshoumaru pairings, but right now I feel like a nice InuYasha/Kagome. Because, well... InuYasha's fun to mess with. :). Heh.  
  
Probably just a oneshot. Or a twoshot. Three. Either way you cut it, it's going to be short. Happy reading!  
  
Something Worthwhile  
  
By KidoPhaux  
  
There he sat, as he did every time. In his tree, pretending that he wasn't watching the well. Kagome immediately felt her insides turn to putty. He was looking away from her, but she knew that it was just for appearances. He wouldn't be caught dead in the presumption that he was anxious for her return. She sighed as she hefted her backpack onto the ground. She was merely the Detector. It wasn't even that he considered her a good companion. Not a friend, obviously, but not even a decent partner-in-crime, or whatever. She threw her leg over the well, clad in jeans and a sweater. After spending some time bushwhacking in those flimsy skirts (which cost a good deal of money when you required a new one) and a few hundred scratches and bruises later, she learned. Miroku was still a problem, of course, because baggy jeans just weren't the thing, but at least he wasn't touching bare flesh. Besides, Kagome thought with a wide grin, it seems that our newbie Sango has become the unfortunate focus of our resident pervert, anyhow. "InuYasha!" Kagome called up when InuYasha made no move to come down and at least help with the pack (like a decent gentleman should!). "Could you give me a hand, here?" The hanyou's ears flattened almost imperceptibly as he grumbled about the feebleness of females and humans alike, but he didn't hesitate to hop down and grab the pack from her aching arms. She felt herself smile in spite of herself. "Thanks!" She felt, suddenly and acutely, the close proximity of the two of them. Blushing, she turned and bolted down towards the village, muttering something about retrieving her bike.  
  
InuYasha watched her flee with a bored expression on his face. Gods, was she weird. Every time he so much as looked at her, she blushed and stuttered, then became flustered, in which cases the word "Sit" slipped out far more easily than he otherwise would have liked. She was so much like Kikyo, though. And not just in looks. The group would never see Kikyo as he had once seen her; especially not Kagome. Kikyo had been so terribly... alive. Vivacious, understanding, loving. Kagome was all of that, if a bit less mature (But who was he to talk?). But when Kikyo smiled, it had been the mournful, yet loving and understanding, smile of a woman with an unreachable dream. When Kagome smiled, the world was alight, the birds sang, and the wind made the trees dance. And he knew why this was, of course. Kagome had grown up unhindered of duty and responsibility, she was completely innocent. Kikyo wasn't innocent; she knew exactly what was happening, and on top of that she knew why and how. Kikyo he could understand. He was of a similar plight, though far more drastic and with different side effects. They had both been kindred spirits, isolated among their own kind. That is, until he got ran out of the demon world. Then he really had been isolated. But he could have lived with that. It served his purpose, to be angry and vengeful; life was easier that way. Maybe Kikyo had it worse. She had no one to understand, no one to talk to, no one at all, even as she lived among hundreds of people. Kagome could never even begin to conceive Kikyo. While he understood her anger at being constantly compared to a woman who was more mature, talented, and in some ways, more beautiful, she wouldn't ever see Kikyo beyond the hateful, soul-stealing corpse that Naraku had reduced her to. Kagome couldn't ever know. InuYasha slowly started making his way to the village. The world was going wrong; Kagome was starting to like him, and in a way that could NOT happen. InuYasha took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut before opening them to the harsh sun. She can't like me, he thought forlornly, for it would bring her to pain. And while I still love Kikyo, I'd never be the one to bring Kagome hurt. I never want to see a day where Kagome wouldn't smile. But she just can't get it; I can't stop loving Kikyo, and I can't see beyond the Kikyo I see in Kagome. Kagome is Kikyo. There is no way around that. Kagome will never be simply Kagome to me. Argh! I have to stop thinking. I'm going to guilt myself into a paralysis. InuYasha crested the last hill to the village, and stopped at the top. He watched Shippou run around in mad circles with Kirara chasing him teasingly, then launch himself into Kagome for protection, laughing the entire way. Kagome was knocked onto her back with the force of it and she, also laughing, said something to Shippou and ruffled his hair. Kirara then sent herself flying at the two of them, and all three fell over laughing. Nearby, Miroku spoke pleasantly to Sango, who had developed a tic in her eyebrow. Miroku left the encounter with a large boomerang imbedded in his head. Kirara had Shippou running in circles again. Kagome looked up, finally catching sight of InuYasha. She grinned warmly and waved at him as if to call him over. InuYasha started down the hill, watching the antics of the little group that he had begun to consider his friends. Kagome was knocked over by a little ball of fluff again. Kirara leapt, causing Shippou to shriek and cling to Kagome's sweater. "Ahh! Miroku, Sango, help!" Kagome yelled, joyfully laughing. InuYasha felt a pang as Miroku tackled Shippou and Sango, the new prey, ran chuckling from Kirara. Kagome hadn't called for his help. Maybe she did understand. But he didn't want her to. He wanted to be the recipient of her affections, selfish as that was when he knew nothing good could come from a relationship betwixt the two. Kagome, rid of the group (who had moved farther up the hillside to play), waved him over next to her. "Shouldn't we be hunting for shards, Kagome?" Inwardly, he winced. He hadn't meant to say that. Whenever he was with her, he found his tone sharp and his words impatient. It was never what he wanted to say. Instead of a glare, though, he received a grin and a shrug. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, Inu-channnn!" She crooned, knowing fully well he abhorred the nickname. "Who? Who is this Jack?" She laughed, the sound low and pleasant to the ears. "Nevermind, Dog-boy! Wanna play with us? We're having fun, although I don't know if you're capable of that sort of thing!" she teased. InuYasha felt a tingling in his stomach. Fun. Kagome had been the one to introduce him to fun. He bared his fangs playfully and dropped the pack. "Picking on Shippou I am most definitely capable of." She grabbed his hand and ran off to the hillside, dragging him along. Kagome. Fun. Kikyo had never been fun. She hadn't the time for frivolities, of course, but now that he knew of fun he wished that he could have experienced it with her. He watched Kagome run from Miroku, who had at some point joined Kirara's team and now brandished a jug of water, and hide behind Sango, who sensed the danger of the incredible wet and bolted, leaving Kagome vulnerable. Just as Miroku moved the jug, Kagome grabbed the bottom and emptied it on Miroku's head, who howled. InuYasha turned and dove for Shippou, who screamed for Kagome and started running in circles again. He felt himself laughing as he tackled Shippou and gave him - what was it called? - noogies. Kagome had also been the one to introduce noogies. He felt himself feeling, deep in his gut, that maybe this companionship was something worthwhile, despite the past. Because the past was gone. Unable to change. What mattered was now, and now they were having fun on a sunny hillside, romping and playing in a way that he had never known. And now Kikyo was beyond his reach, a cold perfection of dirt and bones filled with nothing but hate. And now Kagome was here, and she was supplying him with something that brought more to life than understanding or love. Fun. With Kagome, everything was a product of Fun. Fun. Fun was Kagome. Kagome wasn't Kikyo; she was Fun. Miroku knocked Kagome to the side, and she hurtled into InuYasha. InuYasha exclaimed and rolled backwards down the hill a bit, instinctively wrapping his arms around her waist and making sure he received the brunt of the fall. Then Sango tripped over them, and Miroku, who had been chasing her, fell on them as well. Shippou yelled "Dogpile!" (another introduction brought about by Kagome) and both he and Kirara leapt on top of all of them and jumped around erratically. Something worthwhile. He hugged Kagome closer and breathed in the scent of her hair while they tried to disentangle themselves. He came to himself a few seconds later and released her, but she didn't seem to notice. The light of the world, innocence and constant laughter, was Kagome. The rest of them knew it. So why had it taken him so long?  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE! I don't know. I'm not inspired as I had thought. The words aren't FLOWING. FLOW, damn you! 


End file.
